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Why NOT Weight Loss Surgery For Me

I have weighed over 300 pounds for over decade. I have been two hundred pounds or more for most of my adult life. In the past five years, I have been asked multiple times why I don't have weight loss surgery. And I have wondered myself. Why not? Why not get rid of this weight once and for all? Why not finally, finally, finally be done with this journey? Why not get over the biggest obstacle in my entire life? And I only have one answer to all of those questions.

I've got to figure out how my body works.

Some people call it pride. Some people think I am being stubborn. Some people have called me selfish. Here is a perfect opportunity right in front of me--get the surgery! And I have seriously considered the question half a dozen times. And I have come very, very close to just doing it. But every time, when it came down to the nuts and bolts of the matter, to the nitty gritty, I don't want surgery. I want to know how my body works so I can care for it.

Let me go on record as saying that I don't have a problem with the surgery itself. I think it has been a blessing to many people and helped them to move on to more productive, more energizing, even happier lives. I am not opposed to surgery as a tool in the weight loss arsenal especially in America where we are plagued by obesity and all of its attendant disease factors. Additionally, I think sometimes that surgery is worth it just to save the emotional life of some people. I have lived with obesity for many, many years. I know the kind of pain it brings both in your body and heart and soul. Obesity is a disease and because it is a very misunderstood disease in our society we suffer the fallout of many people's misguided perceptions.

All of this was part of me considering weight loss surgery. I hope every day I made the right decision. As a woman of faith, I made the decision with a lot of prayer and soul searching. And I did not make it lightly. And all I could come back to at the end of the day was my rock and my hard place.

I have obesity. And I am fascinated by health. Can you heal obesity with correct principles of health? That is the grit of sand in my oyster, the thing that I ruminate on endlessly. What are the correct principles of health? And how can I employ them to gain vibrant, energizing, deep-seated health?

I have been overweight or obese most of my life. I have seven siblings; not one of them has ever been obese. Some have had 30 to 40 pounds to lose but no one has dealt with obesity. Why is my body so different? I don't know. But what makes my body work? And what makes it not work? And how can I live the best principles of health to have a body that is active and energetic and fit and trim? Is that possible for me?

That is what this blog is for me. A place to record what I know and what I don't know about my type of obesity and what tools and principles I am using to heal this disease and uncover vibrant health. This is what makes me tick, wakes me up in the morning, juices up my mind and heart. This is what I write about here.